As our heavenly Lord, Christ Jesus came to redeem both Jews and Greeks. He became man to reconcile humanity as a whole to God, for sin is not restricted to Israel, since its impact has universal since the fall of Adam (Romans 5:1–21). The Gentiles therefore do not have to live under the law in order to be able to share in Christ’s work, but does this also imply that they can continue to live under the reign of sin? It is this question that Paul addresses in Romans 6:1–7:6.

From our perspective centuries later, we could easily be tempted to read this section mainly as a plea against immorality. By reading this passage with a focus on contrasting grace with sin it may appear as if Paul wants to prevent those who have received grace from neglecting the vital importance of sanctification in their lives. While this element forms part of the issue being taken into consideration here, the perspective of this section is a little broader than that.

This is because, firstly, Paul here personifies sin (by conveying it in the singular coupled with the definite article: the sin) and as such the concept of sin in this passage is contrasted to the law. A person lives either as a Jew under the law, or as a Gentile outside the law in a world where sin reigns. It is either the synagogue or the temple of idolatry, and a person can belong either to the one or to the other. Before the coming of the gospel, everyone who was converted to Israel’s God joined the synagogue. In Christ this is no longer necessary, for he comes directly to all the children of Adam as Redeemer. Now that Gentiles no longer have to join the synagogue, does this imply that they can now join the temples of idols and the lifestyle that entails? After a 2000-year Christianization of the culture the answer may now seem self-evident, yet in the time when Paul was writing, no Christian ethic had yet been developed and no Christian lifestyle had yet been established. Furthermore, how would that possibly come about if the law no longer served as impetus? In Romans 6:1–7:6 the question concerning ethics is therefore embedded in a broader question concerning what it is that identifies Christians. If they are no longer identified by the law and the synagogue, would this mean that they somehow have to find their identity in their existing life under sin in the Gentile world?

Secondly, because of this broader perspective, the question in chapter 6 cannot be restricted to the renewal of life through conversion. The new life is first of all a life to be lived to the glory of God—the kind of life to which man will return in Christ. The opposite of sin is not merely conversion, but a life lived to the glory of the Almighty. Paul points out a new model of identification for Christians: it is not sin, nor is it the synagogue with the law, but rather the life of the risen Christ in heaven. That life, in which we come to share through faith, becomes the new impetus for our life on earth.

 In Romans 6:1–18 Paul addresses the readers quite personally and directly. He appeals to their own knowledge (do you not know Romans 6:3, Romans 6:16), he reminds them of their own conversion and baptism (Romans 6:4–5, Romans 6:17–18), and he admonishes them repeatedly and directly not to continue in the service of sin (Romans 6:12–13, Romans 6:16). In Romans 6:19–23 he again proceeds to repeat the gist what he had already said, albeit here addressing them even more personally by reminding them of dark and sinful chapters in their lives (Romans 6:20–23). Paul thereby concludes the chapter by contrasting his readers’ new service to Christ with their own unrepentant and dark past as Gentiles, of which they are now ashamed: For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Just as in Romans 5:11, Romans 5:21 and in Romans 6:11 (in most manuscripts), Paul here concludes with the new reality of Jesus Christ as our Lord. Proceeding from this new reality, namely their future presence before the face of God, acquired through the risen One, he writes concerning their new identity as Christians (Romans 6:1–11), and addresses the consequences of this presence for the earthly life of the converted Gentiles (Romans 6:12–23).

Romans 6:1–23 taken by itself could potentially lead the reader to question whether Paul is not writing too casually about the life with and for the Risen One without addressing the question of whether Gentile Christians ought to submit themselves under the law for their service to the new Lord. For this reason Paul decides to add, at the start of Romans 7:1–25, a short explanation concerning the legality of this direct connection to the Risen One. Paul had addressed his readers as brothers only once in this letter thus far (Romans 1:13), yet in Romans 7:1 he once again approaches his readers with this term in order to underline what he had said until now and to bind it on their hearts (see also Romans 7:4).

The core message of the pericope in Romans 7:1–6 is shaped Romans 7:4, where the main point of Romans 6:1–23 is repeated, namely that believers who belong to the risen Lord live fruitful lives under grace, even though they are not under the law. The immediate focus of Romans 7:1–25 is that which had already been discussed in Romans 6:14b, namely living outside the law of Israel. Belonging to the Risen One means having died with him for the law and therefore being lawfully discharged from this law. By way of introduction to Romans 7:4, Paul gives a detailed example in Romans 7:1–3, which he then applies in the following verse. Finally, he proceeds to elaborate on the content of Romans 7:4a in Romans 7:5 and Romans 7:4b in Romans 7:6. In Romans 7:4–6 Paul also touches on a number of topics which will be developed further later in his letter, such as the relationship between law and sin in Romans 7:7–25, the new service through the Spirit in Romans 8:1–38, the identity of the non-Jewish church in Romans 9:1–11:36, and bearing fruit for God in Romans 12:1–15:33. Paul thereby summarizes much with only a few words in Romans 7:4–6. It is as if here he is simply giving us the keys for the melody that is to follow.¹